Visit Indian Travel Sites
Goa,
Kerala,
Tamil Nadu,
Andhra Pradesh,
Delhi,
Rajasthan,
Uttar Pradesh,
Himachal Pradesh,
Assam,
Sikkim,
Madhya Pradesh,
Jammu & Kashmir
Karnataka
|
Bank employees go on strike against merger of public sector banks | The day-long nationwide strike by public sector bank employee unions to protest against the move by the Central government to merge public sector banks affected banking operations across the country on Wednesday. The All India Bank
Employees Association (AIBEA) and All India Bank Officers' Association (AIBOA)
had given the strike call. Bank employees wanted to protest the ongoing move to
merge the State Bank of Indore with its parent State Bank of India (SBI), the
country's largest bank. Pabitra Chatterjee, assistant secretary, Bengal Provincial
Bank Employees' Association, said that they would intensify their protest if the
merger of banks takes place. "This merger would only help the corporate houses
and would reduce the common people to pauper. That is why this Bandh, this bank
strike. Despite the difficulty and temporary setback, our move will continue and
we will intensify our struggle in the near future," Chatterjee told reporters
in Kolkata on Wednesday. E Arunachalam, General Secretary of Tamil Nadu Bank
Employees
Federation, said that the consolidation move would only result in the closure
of branches. "This is not a good decision if the banks are merged into five or
six banks throughout the country, lot of closure of branches will take place.
If the banks are closed customer service will be affected and it will also lead
to reduction of the employees. This is totally anti-national, anti-people and
anti-poor attitude. With the view to condemn the attitude of central (federal)
government, today the employees are on strike. The government has to change their
approach and give up this idea of merging these banks," said Arunachalam in southern
Chennai city. The government has been urging State-owned banks to merge with each
other to benefit from synergies and create fewer bigger players in the sector.
The government and central bank have said that any such move has to be voluntary
on the part of banks. Previously, on August 6 and 7, unions representing about
900,000 employees in State-owned banks went on strike for higher wages and pension,
impacting cash transactions and foreign exchange trading volumes for two days.
Following several rounds of negotiations, Indian Banks Association and United
Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) reached an understanding for a 17.5 per cent wage
hike for the employees in banks. |
|
|
|
|
|